Shadowing Practice: 🎧 How to Train Your Ear to Understand English Naturally - Learn English Speaking with Video

This video has 21 sentences and 189 words to shadow. The speech runs for 1:27. The speaker talks at a steady 131 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 86% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

• ear /ˈɪə̯/ (noun) — The organ of hearing, consisting of the pinna or auricle, auditory canal, eardrum, malleus, incus, stapes and cochlea.
• painful /ˈpeɪn.fl̩/ (adjective) — Causing pain or distress, either physical or mental.
• grammar /ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)/ (noun) — A system of rules and principles for the structure of a language, or of languages in general.
• cartoon /kɑɹˈtun/ (noun) — A humorous drawing, often with a caption, or a strip of such drawings.
• smoothly /ˈsmuːðli/ (adverb) — in a smooth manner; smooth
• repetition /ˌɹɛp.əˈtɪʃ.ən/ (noun) — The act or an instance of repeating or being repeated.
• subtitle /ˈsʌbtaɪtəl/ (noun) — A heading below or after a title.
• memorize /ˈmɛm.əˌɹaɪ̯z/ (verb) — To fully learn so as to have entirely available to the memory; to learn by heart, commit to memory.
• repeat /ɹɪˈpiːt/ (verb) — To do or say again (and again).
• context /ˈkɑn.tɛkst/ (noun) — The surroundings, circumstances, environment, background or settings that determine, specify, or clarify the meaning of an event or other occurrence.
• sentence /ˈsɛn.təns/ (noun) — The judicial order for a punishment to be imposed on a person convicted of a crime.
• spend /spɪnd/ (verb) — To pay out (money).
• brain /ˈbɹeɪ̯n/ (noun) — The control center of the central nervous system of an animal located in the skull, consisting of the cerebrum, cerebellum, and brainstem, which is responsible…
• choose /t͡ʃuːz/ (verb) — To pick; to make the choice of; to select.
• easily /ˈi.zɪ.li/ (adverb) — Comfortably, without discomfort or anxiety.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

• look up /ˌlʊk ˈʌp/ (verb) — To have better prospects.
• turn off (verb) — To power down, to switch off, to put out of operation, to deactivate (an appliance, light, mechanism, functionality etc.).
• turn on (verb) — To set a flow of fluid or gas running by rotating a tap or valve.
• write down (verb) — To produce or set (something) down in writing; to record something.

Pronunciation to watch

• The “th” sounds: smoothly /ˈsmuːðli/, mouth /maʊθ/, method /ˈmɛθəd/

How to practise with this video

1. Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
2. Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
3. Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like ear, painful, grammar.